Virtue in Business Stanford Executive Brief with Pamela Lopker

The three Rs of business: reciprocation, relationships, and reputation.

Why you can't get away with fraud anymore.

Small, individual misjudgments that lead to downwardly spiraling cover-ups.

From creative accounting to outright dishonesty, businesses behaving badly have headlined newspapers across the country. After years of "greed is good," integrity is once again in vogue. But, has the pendulum swung back too far? In this frank discussion, Pam Lopker questions whether recent legislation will be successful in its attempts to codify and enforce virtue from the outside. She argues that survival, rather than regulation, will drive ethical business practices--that to be successful in the long run, an undercurrent of values must permeate all aspects of your organization. You have to look at every transaction from the point of view of the customer, the employee, and the community, and ask, "Am I doing the right thing for this stakeholder?" Ultimately, this perspective is not only virtuous--it is also your best strategy for success.

Founded by Pam Lopker in 1979, QAD today has 1,600 employees in 21 countries, and revenues that have grown to more than $230 million. Lopker has been called "The Hero of U.S. Manufacturing" by Fortune magazine.